Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, scientific transliteration Sergei Michajlovič Ėjzenštejn; * 10 Januarjul / January 22 1898greg in Riga, Latvia today, .. † February 11, 1948 in Moscow) was a Soviet film director. His most famous works are the revolution films Battleship Potemkin and October.

Life

His father was the Riga City Architect and State Council Mikhail Eisenstein, who built Art Nouveau buildings in the center of Riga.

Raised in large middle-class family Sergei Eisenstein reported in 1918 volunteered for the Red Army and took part in a Agitpropzug as a cartoonist. As a set designer and costume designer, he continued his artistic career continued and gathered there also film experience, which he used in his stage work ( first time used Eisenstein film sequences on stage in 1923 in a production of Ostrovsky's A stupidity makes the smartest ). With the concept of attraction assembly he founded first in theory, then in his films to attempt an independent, revolutionary dominated art form.

His international breakthrough as a director he had with the revolutionary film Battleship Potemkin, which today is counted equally to the seminal classics of film history as his films October and Ivan the Terrible. His later films were partly victims of Soviet censorship.

Eisenstein worked with the great Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev for two of his films together: Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible ( Part I and Part II). The latter was planned as a trilogy, but Eisenstein was able to complete only the first two parts. While the first part of Ivan the Terrible in 1945 still awarded the Stalin Prize, subject to the second part because of insufficient line faithful implementation of Soviet historical images a performance ban that was not lifted until three years later. Regardless Eisenstein was personally honored by Stalin because of his achievements in the Soviet film industry. In addition, since his film strike Eisenstein collaborated with cinematographer Eduard Tisse; and the music written for October Edmund Meisel and Dimitri Shostakovich.

On February 11, 1948 Sergei Eisenstein died of a heart attack while he was working on a text on the history of Soviet film. His numerous film theory writings were not published until the 1960s and only in parts, as well as his memoirs. Eisenstein sat critically with the term customer Ludwig Klages '.

Eisenstein applies, although working under difficult circumstances, both theoretically and technically (in particular through its innovative mounting technology ) as one of the greatest directors and visionaries in film history. His works have left a lasting impression and even today are often cited. For his services Eisenstein received in 1941 and 1946 the Stalin Prize.

Starting in 1934, Eisenstein was married to journalist and film critic Pera Ataschewa ( 1900-1965 ).

Filmography

Films about Sergei Eisenstein

• The different faces of Sergei Eisenstein (of Bulgakowa & Dietmar Hochmuth, 59 min, arte / ZDF 1998 Production: self film )

Writings

• Sergei Eisenstein: Selected essays. With an introduction by R. Jurenew. Translated from Russian by Lothar Fahlbusch. Henschel Verlag, Berlin (O) 1960.
• Sergei Eisenstein: About me and my films. Edited by Lilli Kaufmann, translated by Christiane Mückenberger, Lothar Fahlbusch and Lilli merchant. Henschel Verlag, Berlin (O) 1975
• Sergei Eisenstein: An impassive nature. Edited by Rosemarie Heise, translated by Regine Kühn. Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin ( O) 1980.
• Sergei Eisenstein: Yo. I own memoirs. 2 vols. Translated by Regine Kühn and Rita Brown, edited by Naum Klejman and Valentina Korshunova. Introduction Sergei Jutkewitsch. Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin ( O) 1984.
• Sergei M. Eisenstein: Writings. 4 volumes. Edited by Hans -Joachim Schlegel. Hanser, Munich, inter alia, 1974-1984; Volume 1: strike ( = number Hanser Vol 158. ). 1974, ISBN 3-446-11872-1;
• Volume 2: The Battleship Potemkin ( = number Hanser Vol 135. ). 1973, ISBN 3-446-11793-8;
• Volume 3: October. With the notations for the filming of Marx 's "Capital " ( = number Hanser. Vol. 184). 1975, ISBN 3-446-12004-1;
• Volume 4: " The Old and the New ." ( " The General Line "). With the notations of setting plan and correspondence with Wilhelm Reich in the Appendix. 1984, ISBN 3-446-13885-4.